Tears of Gunsmoke
by Carrie M
Summary: The tail of the lost triplet, searching for her own memories amidst the chaos of the dusty planet and the hostile gang in search of the longvanished Vash the Stampede and Knives.


My name is Milika, and I am a wandering assassin working for the son of Legato Bluesummers, a gang leader. However, I cannot tell you much more about myself, since I cannot really remember anything from before I met him or the bunch of low-lifes working under him. Hopefully, one day I can learn about my past, and find out who I was, and who I am...

This is the story of my search for a $$60,000,000,000 man going by the name of Vash the Stampede; you see, there are two reasons why I wish to find this guy. One reason is that my boss- who's name is Stacca- put me on a mission to kill Vash after getting information, while the second reason is that I want to find out why I have dreams about him and his bother, Knives. Think I will be able to find him? Well, read along and find out...

**Chapter 1: Lead to Disappointment**

"Man, I hate sandstorms," Milika muttered, sitting in the middle of the desert, bundled up in a large and bulky brown cloak to protect her against the blowing sand. She pulled the cloak's hood back over her head, adjusting the round, rose-pink sunglasses over her light turquoise eyes, sighing annoyedly. "This new lead had better be worth it, because if it's not...if it's just a load of crap..." She looked down and sighed, closing her eyes. Soon, the winds began to slow and the sand settled to the ground...and on top of her. Milika waited a few moments for it to fully settle before she stood and shook herself off, reaching up a black leather-gloved hand from under the cloak and taking off her sunglasses. She looked up, hearing the roar of an engine as a black motorbike went past and she blinked. "What the..." The driver of the bike glanced back at her through the orange lenses of his black goggles; he sighed and turned the bike around, riding over and stopping the bike in front of her.

"Hey, what are you doing in the middle of the desert?" He asked, running his black-gloved fingers through his black and messy hair, his leather jacket zipped halfway over his white tanktop, even though all of him was covered in sand. Milika sighed and narrowed her eyes slightly; she took her hood with her free hand and pulled it down, pushing her shoulder-length blonde hair out from inside of the fabric folds. The man's eyes widened slightly as he pushed his goggles up onto his head, staring at her.

"I'm just on my way to somewhere important," She replied, walking past him and rolling her eyes. The man blinked before turning and reaching out, grabbing her arm.

"Wait a minute! Where are you headed?"

"None of your business. Now why don't you be a good little boy and let go of me?" Milika muttered, standing there as she glanced back at him, narrowing her eyes once more and blowing a strand of hair from her face.

"Just tell me. You probably won't survive without water or anything, so I can give you a ride, got it? I'm offering you something so the polite response would be to say 'Thank you' and ' I am going to-...'" Milika pulled her arm away and sighed, walking away from him once more.

"Leave me alone, alright?! I'm going to be fine!" She clenched her fists in annoyance, seeing the tops of the ruins of July city far ahead of her. "I'm going to be fine..." She started walking again and shook her head, removing the cloak and folding it up over her right arm, using her other arm to wipe any sand from on her black trenchcoat and boots. The man got on his bike, meanwhile, and slowly revved the engine, using his own feet to lead the bike on either side as he rode very slowly behind her, following her to make sure she stayed alright. As they went slowly and carefully through the desert, Milika kept glancing back at him and huffing, thinking it an annoyance that he felt the need to follow her. "You know...I could kill you right at this moment, if I felt like it."

"A beautiful girl like you? Are you sure?" The man chuckled slightly, his chest shaking with his laughs.

"Yes...an assassin can kill anything and anyone with ease..." This made the man stop laughing, and his eyes went wide as he stared at her. He stopped his bike.

"An assassin? But...why would you want to be an assassin?" He asked in utter disbelief, a soft wind blowing strands of black hair into his face. "Why become a killer?"

"Is it really that surprising that I would be a killer? Well get over that shock, I'm seriously an assassin...it's what was decided for me...what I was made into..." She looked up at the sky and looked at the few clouds hovering there. "..."

"Who decided it for you?"

"That is something I will definitely not tell you, so don't ask." The man looked down and nodded, starting to move his bike again, going after her.

"Fine, fine...but may I ask you your name? Mine's Tai."

"Milika..." She replied softly, as they came up on the ruins; Milika stopped walking and looked up at the dark twisted metal remnants of buildings, as well as crumbling and burnt rock walls with glass windows still intact somewhat. "Here we are..." She whispered, blowing her hair out of her face before walking over to a battered iron door that was sticking up out of the sand and touching it. "Hey Tai, you can leave now. I'm where I wanted to go."

"Um...are you sure? These are just worthless ruins. What's so important that a big bad assassin has to go to them?" Tai asked, getting off his bike and turning it off, blinking as he walked over to her. She paused in what she was doing and glanced at him, raising her foot and kicking him back, which caused him to fly butt-first into the sand. "Oww...did you have to do that? I was just asking a question."

"Your questions were getting to be unbearable to listen to. This place is important to me." She opened the door after fiddling with the handle and climbed down a set of stairs, quickly closing the door behind her so Tai would not follow. However, that did not stop him as he rose and walked over, touching the handle and attempting to move it, seeing that it was firmly attached to the door. Smirking, he looked around before slowly opening the creaking hunk of metal and sneaking in through the crack. He looked to his left and right, seeing that it was nothing but a rusty metal corridor leading down into darkness, where he heard voices, including Milika's.

"Hm..." He started heading down the steps slowly, trying not to make any noise, though it was hard considering that he had to avoid rusted bolts and slamming accidently into the sides of the little corridor. As he moved, he heard a conversation between Milika and a man down below.

"I really think that lead that I got before was a dud...got any more for me Baxter?" Milika asked, leaning on the wall behind her as she crossed her arms and glanced at a ruddy man to her left, who had orange facial hair and a red crew-cut. The man looked down at her with his dark green eyes and smirked, his square jaw jutting out as he scratched his chest, his nails scraping against his white T-shirt. Milika groaned and looked around, saying, "Do you have to scratch yourself in front of me?" She knew what part he was going to scratch next, and she did not want to be there when he did it.

"Sorry lass, but you know 'ow itchy I get sometimes." He laughed and reached up, scratching his head. "Nope, the only leads I gots for 'im were all duds...not even worth seein'." Milika sighed and closed her eyes.

"Of course they all turn out to be duds. No one really knows where he is since he's too much of a coward to show up anywhere without a disguise or alias. He may as well be dead." Milika shook her head and then glanced up at a couple of laughing guys who were talking as they walked down the small hallway, then up at the bright lights on the cieling that illuminated the whole place. "I just want to find him and get it all over with so I don't have to worry about it anymore." Baxter sighed and patted her on the shoulder with his large, hairy hand.

"Don' worry lass, it'll be alrigh'...you'll find 'im...then it'll be back to normal."

"Nah, when this is over, I'll probably leave...I can't stand this life anymore..."

"Even though it's all you have?" Muttered a new voice from the other side of Milika, and her eyes went wide and flashed as she looked over and saw Stacca, son of Legato Bluesummers and the leader of the gang that Milika was a member of. She gasped and straightened her posture immediately in her shock.

"Uh, boss! I didn't see you there!" She stuttered slightly, staring at him as he smiled and patted her head, his golden eyes looking warmly at her as the bangs of his slightly long dark blue hair fell over them. "Huh?"

"Calm down...how did the lead go for Vash the Stampede?" At hearing this, Tai's eyes went wide since he was not that far from the bottom of the stairs and he heard Vash's name. He narrowed his eyes, wondering why Milika was so interested in Vash the Stampede; that's when he put two and two together, remembering how she had told him before about how she was an assassin.

"Oh no..." He whispered, biting his lip as he moved down the last steps. "..."

"I...the lead was a big fat dud...I wasted most of the day just sitting in the middle of a sandstorm," Milika replied, looking at Stacca's eyes before turning away and sighing, rubbing her head. "Maybe I should just go hang out in my room and look after things." Stacca smiled again and then turned, walking down the hall slowly as he glanced back at her.

"Why don't you go get some sleep. You haven't taken a break in awhile." He went through a door at the end of the hall, passing the stairs to his left.

"Uh..." Milika blinked, surprised by his kindness as she nodded; Baxter chuckled. "Sure boss, I gotcha." She nodded again and turned, heading past Baxter and going into a room through a white door on her left. Baxter ran his fingers through his hair and got up from lounging against the wall, walking away. Milika stood in the middle of a bright room surrounded by candles and flowers. She went to a small simple bed with the headboard pushed against the wall opposite the door and laid down, turning on her back and kicking off her boots after unzipping them at the sides, staring up at the ceiling in silence; she held her hand up and removed the glove, staring at her pale fingers as she curled them and then straightened them once more.

Meanwhile, seeing that no one else was in the hallway, Tai went and got off the steps, walking slowly down the hall, keeping himself almost plastered against the wall as he looked around curiously; it looked like a bunker from years and years ago, that was barely fixed up when the gang decided to inhabit it. He sighed, wondering where the room was that Milika had gone to, wanting to see what all this was about. Tai was going to see what was going on, and why she wanted to find Vash the Stampede so much. When he reached an open doorway, and smelled the fragrance of flowers, Tai blinked and turned his gaze over to the source, seeing the room full of unlit candles and vases of multi-colored flowers, as well as Milika at the back of the room on the bed. "Milika..." He whispered, glancing to his left and right before moving over and sneaking inside. "Hey Milika," Tai said, closing the door behind him as he looked at her and Milika gasped, grabbing a frosted silver gun from the holster under her coat and aiming it at his head in her shock. His eyes went wide and he glued himself to the door. "Milika, it's me!"

"Yeah, I know. What are you doing in here?" She asked, narrowing her eyes as she got off of the bed and walked slowly towards him.

"Why do you want to find Vash the Stampede?"

"None of your business, Tai. Now, if you value your life, you will get out of here and go on your little way to a nice town somewhere. Might I suggest the city of October??"

"Listen, stop yelling at me! I was curious!" He reached out and grabbed the nozzle of her gun and she struggled with him, before pushing his hands off her gun and aimed it at his head angrily; then she looked up at the door to her room, hearing Stacca knocking on the door, asking what was going on. She gasped and put her hand over Tai's mouth to keep him quiet as he looked up at the door and then at her.

"No-nothing boss! Just listening to my radio!"

"Are you sure? Let me in."

"No! Sir, I am alright!" She cryed, growling slightly at Tai as he glared at her. "Really I am!"

"Alright Milika." Stacca sighed and walked away. She sighed and removed her hand from Tai's mouth, as he hurriedly got to his feet and backed away.

"Tell me why all of this is happening...why you are so interested in Vash the Stampede, or I am not leaving..." Tai muttered as Milika stood there, holding her gun tightly as she lowered it and put it in its holster once more. "Explain your obsession with him. You want to kill him, don't you??"

"Ye-..." Milika paused for a moment, her eyes flashing as she stared at him and then looked down. "Yes, I do...but only after I find out some things from him that only he can explain."


End file.
